Building interior construction



May 20, 1941. w. H. VENZIE 2,242,558

BUILDING INTERIOR CONSTRUCTION Filed July 2. 1938 INVENTOR W94 767??2 as.

ATTORNEY Patented May ZO, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE numnmc INTERIOR CONSTRUCTION Walter H. Venzie, Philadelphia, Pa. Application July 2, 1938, 'Serial No. 217,201

5 Claims.

This invention relates to building interior construction and more particularly to a novel interior surface construction involving a novel combination of novel clips, novel splines, and novel runners.

' Modern interior construction frequently, as in sound-proofing, utilizes marginally slotted panels associated with clips which engage the slots and connect the panels to supporting means such as plasterers channels. .The present invention relates to such basic structure but provides means engaged by the clip for aligning and marginally supporting the panels and at the same time permits positioning of the clips on plasterers channels spaced on irregular centers.

A primary object of the invention is to provide means for reducing the cost of building construction by eliminating the time involved in accurately positioning the supporting-structure on definitely spaced centers.

Another generic object of the invention is to provide a novel ceiling composed of relatively elastic and flexible surfacing panels together with means for connecting the same to supports and maintaining them in a common plane regardless of the amount of expansion and contractions of the individual panels.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a novel clip for connecting marginally slotted panels to a support.

Another specific object of the invention is to provide a novel easily attachable spline for aligning and in some cases supporting marginally slotted surfacing panels.

A further specific object of the invention lies in the provision of a combination of clip, runner and spline, the clip providing means of connection to a support, regardless of position, of the spline and runner which may directly support panels.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following specification, claims, and from the drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational .view partially in sec tion of a preferred embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a. view similar to Fig. 1 but taken at right angles thereto on the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a form of clip embodied in the invention;

Fig. 4 is a. perspective view of the spline and runner shown in Figs. 1 and 2; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a modified form of clip.

Referring now particularly to Figs. 1 to 4 of the drawing, conventional plasterer's channels l support clips 20 which in turn carry runner 40 supporting surfacing units 60. Splines 50 resting on the runners support and alignthe edges of the units not mounted on the runners. The clip 20 preferably may be stamped from sheet metal and comprises a plate 2| roughly rectangular in form from which extends in the same plane therewith and from its upper edge an car 22. To the upper end of the ear 22 and normal to the plane thereof extends a flange 23, the flange being substantially longer than the ear is wide so that it lies directly over the upper edge of one end of the plate 2| to form therewith and with aside wall of the ear 22 a U shaped slot 24. A finger 25 extends from the upper edge of the plate 2| adjacent its other end in a plane normal to that of the plate and hence lies in parallelism with the flange 23 but not 'therebeneath. From the lower edge of the plate 2| throughout its entire length extends a flange 26 in a plane normal to that of the plate but on the opposite side of the plate from the side on which extend the flange 23 and the finger 25. From the edge of flange 26 the metal is carried downward and under the flange and extended back under the plate 2| and therebeyond to form a flange 21 lying in parallelism with the flnger 25 and the flange 23 but the flange 21 is spaced from flange 26 to form the 'groove 28 as shown in Fig. 3. Preferably the plate 2| is formed with a hole 30 midway between its ends.

As shown most clearly in Fig. 1 the flange 23 is spaced from the upper edge of the plate 2| a distance equal to the height of a conventional plasterers channel so that there will be no play between the clip and the channel when the two are assembled and, when assembled, the end 3| of the flange 23 may be bent over the upper flange of the channel to lock the clip in place.

The dimensions roughly of the clip 20 may be 1 x 2". On theother hand the runner 40 carried thereby may be x 6' long. The run ner 40 may, similarly to the clip 20, be stamped from sheet metal to form a substantially T shaped unit having a leg 4| and a cross bar or head 42, half of which may be of double thickness as at 43. Preferably nailing holes 44 are formed in the leg 4|.

The spline 5|) may be T-shaped similarly to the runner 40 and may comprise a leg 5| of a single thickness of metal and a cross-bar or head one side of which is completely bent. over upon itself as at 52 and the other side of which only partially overlies itself. Thus for practical purposes both sides of the head are of uniform thickness and will fit similarly like grooves in the edges of surfacing units. Preferably the headis cut from the leg SI of the spline adjacent each end for a distance equal at least to the width of one side of the head 42 of the runner 40 so that an edge of the leg 5| of the spline 50 may rest uponthe runner 40.

In assembling the structure a row of clips is first positioned on a number of piasterers channels III .which previously have been erected in a conventional manner but without any care being taken to space them accurately on centers or in parallelism, the eye of the workman being a sufflciently close gauge either as to their alignment or spacing. To a number of clips is fastened a runner 40, the single leg 42 of the runner entering the groove 28 of the clip 20 and the double portion 43 of the runner resting on the flange 21 of the clip. It will thus be obvious that as shown in Fig. 2 the combined runner and clip becomes of uniform thickness where they engage the groove 6| in the surfacing units 60. Bending of the finger 25 down over the leg 4| of the runner locks it to the clips as shown in Fig. 1. It will be obvious from a consideration of the drawing that the runner lies at right angles to the channels l0 and holds in alignment not only the panels positioned adjacent one another on one side of the runner but also aligns panels which lie adjacent on opposite sides thereof. the panels 60 are aligned and held in position by the spline 50, its cross-bar lying in the same plane as the cross-bar of the runner 40, which are positioned on the surfacing units or panels 60 are mounted.

In the modified form of clip shown in Fig. 5 all parts and arrangement of the clip shown in the other drawing are present and similar numbers have been applied thereto but the slot 24 has been enlarged vertically and flanges 3| and 32 have formed on the ear 22 and on the plate 2| respectively adjacent the slot to form in conjunction with the flange 3| means for holding a layer of sound absorbent material such as felt 35 in contact with the channel I0 and thus to 4 reduce sound transmission through the clip to The other edges of What is claimed is:

1. A clip comprising a plate, a flange extending from an edge of said plate, a slot in said plate, said slot cooperating with said flange to define U-shaped support-engaging means, a lining of sound absorbing material within said slot, a second flange extending from an opposite edge of said plate in one direction, said flange being bent upon itself to define a second flange extending oppositely with respect to said last named edge and spaced from itself to define a groove, and a finger extending from said plate and adapted to be bent toward said last mentioned flange and into parallelism with said plate.

2. A clip comprising a plate, a flange extending from an edge of said plate, a slot in said plate, said slot cooperating with said flange to define U-shaped support-engaging means, a second flange extending from an opposite edge of said plate in one direction, said flange being bent upon itself to deflne a second flange extending oppositely with respect to said last named edge and spaced from itself to deflne a groove, and a finger extending from said plate and adapted to be bent toward said last mentioned flange and into parallelism with said plate.

3. A clip comprising a plate, U-shaped support-engaging means extending from said plate, a flange extending from an edge of said plate in one direction, said flange being bent upon itself to deflne a second flange extending oppositely with respect to said edge and spaced from itself to define a groove, and a finger extending from said plate and adapted to be bent toward said last mentioned flange and into parallelism with said plate.

4. An interior building construction comprising supporting means, clips engaging said supports, a runner carried by said clips, and surfacing units, each of said clips engaging contiguous surfacing units and one of said runners.

5. In interior building construction, a T-shaped runner and a clip comprising means cooperating with the leg of said T-shaped runner for preventing movement thereof either horizontally or vertically and means carried by the clip cooperating with one side of the head of said T- shaped runner for preventing movement thereof in one direction horizontally or vertically.

WALTER H. VENZIE. 

